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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Functional Assessment of Intestinal Tight Junction Barrier and Ion Permeability in Native Tissue by Ussing Chamber Technique
Published on: May 26, 2021
Applications of imaging techniques to studies of epithelial tight junctions
1Cystic Fibrosis Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7248, USA. Larry_Johnson@med.unc.edu
Abstract:
The intercellular junctional complex, which consists of the tight junction (TJ), adherens junction, and desmosomes, mediates cell-cell adhesion in epithelia and endothelia. The TJ forms the apical-most portion of this complex in epithelia, serving as a fence to lateral diffusion of apical and basolateral membrane components and as a semi-permeable barrier or gate to the flow of ions and solutes through the paracellular pathway. The TJ consists of a series of integral membrane and cytoplasmic plaque proteins with complex interactions. Included among the TJ proteins are the claudins, which play a major role in mediating the charge and solute selectivity of the junction. Yet, the profile of claudin and associated protein expression differs among epithelia and the function and regulation of many of the TJ proteins remain unknown. This review discusses the application of techniques to discern the function, localization, and regulation of epithelial TJs based on examples from published studies.
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